Perceived Overqualification and Job Attitudes of Public Servants

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigated the relationship between perceived overqualification and job attitudes (affective and continuance organizational commitment and turnover intention) in the public sector.

Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework was based on theories about perceived overqualification, human capital, equity, relative deprivation, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, as well as Brazilian civil service legislation.

Design/methodology/approach

Brazilian public servants (n = 243) answered scales of perceived overqualification, affective and continuance commitment, and turnover intention, and these data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that affective commitment was negatively related to turnover intention and mediated the relationship between perceived overqualification and turnover intention.

Practical & social implications of research

The findings suggest that overqualification is an inevitable phenomenon that needs to be managed, as rejecting overqualified workers (as is done in the private sector) may be a discriminatory practice and crime.

Originality/value

Overqualification has been present in the Brazilian civil service for a long time, but it has not been fully investigated. The present study is one of the few empirical studies on the overqualification phenomenon in the Brazilian civil service.

Keywords:
Resource management; civil service; professional qualification; job attitudes